My two favorite cereals these days (they change weekly) are Cascadian Farms Cinnamon Crunch and Trader Joe’s frosted bite-size wheats. Confession: I love sweetened cereals, but feel much better about eating them if they come from a “health food store” rather than the cereal aisle at Kroger.

Yesterday, I met up with HEAB reader Susannah for lunch at Mediterranean Cuisine. (Hi Susannah. Loved meeting you and hope to see you again soon!)

My hair looks big in this photo. Confession: I only wash and comb my hair 2 or 3 times a week. Otherwise, I just wake up and go. I don’t even keep a hairbrush in the house.

Confession: I always say that Mexican is my favorite ethnic food, but honestly, I only go for the chips, salsa, and guac. I really do think my heart belongs to Middle Eastern/Mediterranean cuisine as I could eat this stuff everyday!

Last night I kept dinner simple with a salad that actually contained some greens…although, I think pickles totally count as greens, don’t you?.

Yesterday, besides all my salad eating, I did something I haven’t done in over 2 months. I went on a walk, a glorious 45 minute walk with my 2 dogs. I was feeling good in the morning, and it was so nice to have some energy. However, I’m really feeling Tuesday night’s pre-natal yoga class today, more so than yesterday. We did a lot of squats, and my quads are so sore. So, I think I’ll take it easy today. Confession: Although I really have missed yoga, I’ve decided that 4 to 5 90-minute classes a week was way too much. Even 20 minutes of yoga is enough.

are those cherries on your shirt? So cute! It’s funny, nearly every time I think to myself how beautiful someone’s hair is, I find out they only wash it a few times a week. My OCD-inclined self still hasn’t been able to give that a go. And I love your “cereal salad” – so fun!

Babycakes, Yes, that’s my cherry shirt. It is so old – I think I got for about $10 out of some random teen-bopper catalog I got in the mail. However, I still love it. Thankfully, my hair isn’t very oily, and I can get away with not washing it everyday. The natural curl tends to hide the dirt.

Haha! I love your confessions! My confession is that as a healthy eater I still love my ranch salad dressing. Why oh why can’t I find something as good that’s actually healthy? I tried to make something homemade last night (you know the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, etc) and almost vomitted when I tasted it. Back to ranch today….I totally need to look into some healthy ranch alternatives. Any suggestions?

Andrea, Not sure. Never made my own ranch dressing. I love all of Gena’s raw dressing recipes, and she has one for ranch: http://www.choosingraw.com/california-ranch-sandwich/. Let me know if you try it, and if it makes you feel any better, I would like to swim in a pool of bleu cheese dressing myself. LOVE IT!

replay confession: i wash my hair 2x weekly ( i use dry shampoo on pieces around my face if they look a little grimey) am i a dirty bird? no way! girlfriend showers daily but with long hair you gotta make some sacrifices and i don’t want to spend my life in the bathroom!

original confession: i love to practice yoga simply for the shakey-leg syndrome i get post session it’s a strange “exercise high” for me

No worries…I count out my chips too..otherwise I could eat a whole bag. Chips are my favorite snack food!! And I only wish my hair could look that good without a comb…I am trying not to hate you! Just kidding!

Heather, I have a confession: ever since we got an ice cream maker (2 weeks ago) we’ve been having ice cream every night for dessert. My only regret about this is that I don’t have more people to share it with!

HEAB – how do you deal with “stalkers” and negative comments…not that you’d get any of course!! – but it seems if I post something it’s taken extremely literal and to death – and it’s “wrong” to vent…I’ve asked said person(s) to stop reading (they are not welcomed!), but I keep getting stalked – it’s disturbing and ruins your day and self-value… now I can see what AVERIE from veggies and yoga means…

YAY! I had a great time, too! I made an awesome salad last night, too, and used my leftover falafel from lunch and some homemade spinach/artichoke hummus (along with the leftover hummus from lunch- you just can’t ever have too much hummus!). I haven’t heard of the Sunshine Burgers but they look yummy. I’m always looking for a new salad topping! Thanks again, hope to see you soon!

Ha, the confessions I could make! I try to be healthy but I LOVE french fries. Yep, I eat them about once a week because I love them so much. I don’t wash my hair all that often either and sometimes I can’t stand to go exercise. There it is, those are my confessions.

Why would sweet cereal from a health food store be any better than a grocery store? It’s all just marketing.
Just like a bag of organic oats from Kroger would be the same as a bag of organic oats from Whole Foods.

Samantha, Exactly, the cereal is not any better, hence my confession. It really makes no sense, but if you slap *organic* on it and put in in the health food section, I feel much better about eating it. Totally lame as sugar is nothing but sugar, no matter what you label it.

confession: i haven’t done even a second of pilates all week (no guilt, either). aunt flo is visiting, and last night i went to target and bought a dress and told myself it was cardio. but today is a “new day,” right???

Confession: I’m going to be totally lurking here all the time now that you are pregnant. Congratulations! I hadn’t checked in here in a while. I love your blog anyway, but following your pregnancy will be so fun!

I love what you said about your pregnancy being freeing in terms of eating. I, too, found this to be true with all three of my pregnancies. I also began to have a lot more love toward my body once I witnessed the amazing way that I could grow a baby and birth a baby (all three times naturally, once at home).

In college I was obsessed with Frosted Mini-Wheats. They went on sale for $2 a box, and I bought 15! Yes, yes I did. Never got sick of them either! Love the idea of cereal salad, too. Hey, if Snickers salad exists…

My confession is the same as Danielle’s – I don’t wash produce. Unless I see obvious dirt. The one exception is organic heads of lettuce – why are they always full of dirt?!? The non-organic never is. Weird.

I only wash my hair 2 to 3 times a week, too! It dries it out otherwise since it’s naturally curly. But since I get pretty sweaty in my work outs, I do get it wet when I shower and comb it through then… then blow dry it and no touching it till the next morning

What!!!!! You only wash and comb your hair 3 times week??? Now I’m envious. You hair always looks so beautiful and flowing.

I’m a chips and salsa gal. Those things are dangerous for me!!! I also LOVE middle eastern food. I have middle eastern chopped salad that is the bomb. (I didn’t just say that.) But my FAVORITE food of all time is Indian. However I’m not very good at cooking it…yet.

love your confessions!
i dont understand how you can only wash your hair so little!
maybe since mine is paper thin i have to more often.
how’d you get so thin with all the food you eat? did you diet differently atfirst
to lost it all? i’m trying the beverly hills new diet book and it is so hard!
thanks.

Andrea, Yeah, my hair is super thick and really wavy. It’s kind of dry and not oily at all, and washing it a lot dries it out even more.

I never counted calories when I lost all my weight, but I’m sure they were lower than the amount I eat now. I probably take in between 1700 – 2,000 a day, but keep in mind I don’t sit at a desk all day. Normally between walking, yoga, and my job of my massage therapy, I stay pretty active. Lately, I’m eating more carbs than normal, but I’m just kind of going with what my body is craving. I definitely have more of an appetite this past week, and I’m eating more these days.. However, this is a good thing as I lost 10 pounds during the first trimester of my pregnancy due to morning sickness. Again, just trying to embrace my appetite and go with it.

Andrea, PS – Is the Beverly Hill diet the one where you eat 400 calories a day? If so, that is enough fuel for body. You’re putting yourself in starvation mode, which will only screw up your metabolism. My advice is to concentrate on vegetables and make sure you get in your fats. Stay away from sugar, all kinds. Stay active – walk and strength train. Just stick to whole real foods and don’t starve yourself. I would never recommend eating less than 1200 to 1400 calories a day.

Confession: Although for the past 4 months I have been trying to eat healthy being in culinary school, we are doing boulangerie this week. That means brioche, croissants, and cinnamon buns. Healthy what? Yeah, I’m indulging.

Tracy, Yes, I wake up at 3 with my mind racing of everything I need to get done over the next few months. However, yes, definitely feeling better during the daytime. Nights are still pretty rough, but at least I can just go to sleep.

Love that mentioned only brushing/washing your hair 2-3 times a week. I’m telling you, it’s the secret to good hair! Whenever anyone asks for my “tips”, I reply: Do nothing. Absolutely nothing. It’s the way to go.

Confession: My favorite part about working at a natural food store is seeing all of the westside and Manitou’s healthy grocery choices. I’m a creeper. I love love love knowing what everyone else is eating!

Confessions: I often don’t wash my produce, I buy cups of fair trade green mountain coffee as often as I can without guilt, sometimes I just love a diet coke or some splenda, and I’m not sure if I ever want to call myself a runner again (I’ve been loving yoga for a year-and-a-half, and I don’t foresee that changing due to the freedom it offers me.)

Sarah, I can relate to ALL your confessions. I rarely wash my produce either – I know some people that scrub everything with soap and a scrub brush. My apples might get rinsed off with tap water, but that’s about it.

My confession is that we don’t have a hairbrush either, just a wooden comb.
I no-poo my hair every 2-3 days on the off days it gets a nice massage under the water in the shower. I love that you’ve said this, your hair is beautiful!

cereal and i have a rocky relationship…we were too friendly, so now we are foes. i cant afford my box a day habit, so i am forced to buy from the bulk bins now in single portions.
i could survive on cereal alone for the rest of days without a doubt.

Glad you are feeling better. A nice walk is always refreshing. I too love sweetened cereal, I just seem to have no control so I don’t buy it. Pickles are definetly a vege. Confession – I only wash my hair 2-3 times per week. Now if I could just figure out how yours looks so good without even brushing it.

Confession: I have an aluminum water bottle that changes color when filled with cold water. Wanting to watch it change color over and over again might be the only thing that keeps me hydrated during the day. I am 5 years old on the inside.

I’d happily confess that I have no intentions of unpacking more today after running 14 miles.
And from the impression that I get, washing your hair 2-3 times a week after the baby comes will be a luxury

Ha – according to your definitions of salad, I think I eat salad 3+ times per day! We are very healthy. Totally agree re: sweetened cereals–it’s far superior to buy the mom & pop brand from a health food store.

Since we’re on the salad topic, I’ll second a previous commenter’s confession that I do like Ranch Dressing. I try to make it ‘healthier’ sometimes and I don’t eat it often, but every so often I have to have it.

I could live on Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food, too. I love it. A few of my favorite cookbooks are Middle Eastern ones.

Congratulations HEAB and CD!! That is amazing news. I didn’t read any blogs for a few days, and missed your pregnancy announcement. You will be wonderful parents! It’s nice to hear that you’ve been able to start yoga again, and I hope the nausea will go away soon. Best wishes!!

Well you had fruit on the cereal so it was totally a salad! I am with you on mediterranean food…I LOVE it! Pickles also a green so perfect vegetable…just consider it already dressed! And yeah, I am going to just on the bandwagon of hating you for having great hair with out having to wash it everyday! Ok, now confession…I eat a huge bowl of oatmeal loaded with apples cereal and peanut butter ever night before bed…I think you already new that though. I am glad you are finding your groove with the pregnancy. I hope you are doing well today! Oh, and sleep is over rated.

love the confessions…I used to love sugary cereal but the gluten is now what keeps me away

the fact that you even workout at all during your 1st/2nd tri is awesome. I was so sick that the yoga teacher side of me was like “prenatal yoga has all these lovely benefits…yadda yadda”…I was barfing my guts out and didnt do yoga for the 1st half of my preg and hardly did it the 2nd half. And yoga = 10 mins of stretching. Before I would go puke again. An hour or 90 mins..you’ve gotta be kidding me!

My other confession, not a “bad” one but it’s my anniversary and I just blogged about my whole how i met scott and we got married in vegas for $199 bucks story.

confession: i watched as my husband polished off a pint of ben and jerry’s and was craving ice cream. i decided to make a smoothie (you know, the ‘healthy’ choice) but put two heaping teaspoons of peanut butter in it and then served it in a (mostly) empty peanut butter jar. i think i defeated the healthful purpose…

Hummus Salad – OMG that looks amazing!!!! I also love mediterrean food, yummy!!! Course I also love Mexican food. So glad we don’t have to pick just one!!
I need to find the Falafel chips – they look so good.

Haha, I was just thinking about doing a similar post with my weird food rules….

Along the lines of how you think health food store’s versions of sugary cereals are better than the original, it reminded me of one of my food confessions:

Part of me honestly, truly believes that if I splurge on only one food or meal (like having 4 plates of lasagna for dinner vs. one plate of lasagna and a salad) then somehow the calories don’t count, as if my body can only take in a max number of calories per food, per day….

Likewise, I also partially believe that my body only takes in so many calories per day and thus if it’s a splurge day (I rarely do this anymore, but back in the day), and eat way more than I would have liked, I kind of believe that these calories don’t count too and think that I can only gain ‘so many’ pounds in one day.

Even as I type this I know it’s completely ludicrous, and yet I sometimes still continue to fall into these weird mindsets!

…confession ( a weird one!) : I dreamt about you tonight!?! You were at the seaside with CD and other relatives , you were pregnant and already had two baby boys, blue eyes and blond hair, one of them was named “Andrew”!!! ahahah kind of scares me that I dream about someone I have never met? ! ?

Luna, Too funny. Other people have told me they have had dreams about me – maybe you read my blog before going to bed or something? I do that too – see a person or hear their name, and then they reappear in my dreams. Now, what would have been really weird if Andrew had been the boy’s name we’d chosen. Although come to think of it, I really do like that name. So, you think we’re going to have 3 HEABlets, huh? Ha, CD and I better get busy!

I don’t know what it is about this past week (maybe the spring time pollen or poppy flowers budding) but everyone has been confessing lately…

HEAB: if I had a million dollars (see post “tall tales” this is shameless plugging isn’t it I am so sorry I’m being tacky.) I would buy you a book by William J. Bennett called Childrens Book of Virtues. I had it growing up and it has many great stories about manners etc that really relate to a child’s brain. please don’t make your baby a baby einstein tv-watching drone.

anyways I hope you had carrots and your eyes made it through this entire lengthy comment. best wishes

Hello. I’ve never commented, but wanted to say congratulations on your sprog-growing! I wish you all the best. I’m also glad to see you embracing sugary cereal – I’ve never had preganancy induced nausea (because, er, I’ve never been pregant) but whenever I was ill growing up the only think I could stomach was dry Frosties, particularly the odd ones you’d come across in the packet that were literally slathered in a shiny sugary crust. They are still my go-to comfort food when ill, those and Digestive biscuits
I don’t even own a comb. I wash my hair every three or four days. I like to think if it as ‘environmentally friendly’, you know…saving shampoo…
An ex flatmate of mine always said how chocolate bought from a health food shop was healthy. Chocolate covered raisins, even just plain old chocolate covered fudge; if it’s bought from a health food shop it totally doesn’t count. That belief rubbed off on me. That and her “But whiskey is medicinal!” mantra

elk, Thanks for the encouragement, and oh my gosh, LOVE Digestives, especially the milk chocolate ones. When I lived in the UK, at first I thought they were some of fiber laxative cookie or something. Ha, not quite. So good!

It’s also national salsa month I hear. I like topping my salad with salsa so I’ll celebrate both!
Confessions: I also only wash/brush my hair a few times a week. I’m a low maintenance gal that way too. I also have tried to like yoga so so so much, but I really don’t get anything out of it that I wouldn’t also get by just stretching.